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Postal Service: NAICS 491

About the Postal Service subsector

The postal service subsector is part of the transportation and warehousing sector.

The Postal Service subsector includes the activities of the National Post Office and its subcontractors operating under a universal service obligation to provide mail services, and using the infrastructure required to fulfill that obligation. These services include delivering letters and small parcels. These articles can be described as those that can be handled by one person without using special equipment. This allows the collection, pick-up, and delivery operations to be done with limited labor costs and minimal equipment. Sorting and transportation activities, where necessary, are generally mechanized. The restriction to small parcels distinguishes these establishments from those in the transportation industries. These establishments may also provide express delivery services using the infrastructure established for provision of basic mail services.

North American Industry Classification System

The postal service subsector consists of a single industry group, Postal Service: NAICS 4911.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in postal service. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry , data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2024
First-line supervisors/managers of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators	5,380
Postal service clerks	78,060
Postal service mail carriers	336,040
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	111,920
Postmasters and mail superintendents	13,810

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Earnings

Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in postal service.

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2024
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
First-line supervisors/managers of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators	39.61	40.17	82,390	83,560
Postal service clerks	29.63	29.36	61,630	61,070
Postal service mail carriers	27.64	28.79	57,490	59,880
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	27.18	28.04	56,530	58,310
Postmasters and mail superintendents	44.58	45.08	92,730	93,760

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.


Data series	Dec. 2024	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025
Producer price index	(p)322.549	(p)322.549	(p)323.074	(p)323.074
Percent change from previous month	(p)0.0%	(p)0.0%	(p)0.2%	(p)0.0%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in postal service. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments


Data series	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Federal government	29,721	(p)29,797	(p)29,745	(p)29,709
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked. Growth in unit labor costs represent the annual change in the labor cost of producing one unit of output.


Data series	2021	2022	2023	2024
Labor productivity, output per hour	-3.5	-5.3	-5.7
Hours worked	1.4	-0.8	-2.3	-0.6
Output	-2.2	-6.0	-7.9
Unit labor costs	-0.3	7.3	17.1

(Source: Productivity)

Data extracted on: April 29, 2025